Comments

Comment by sorcen

The combo gems, then, yield half of two of these stats. Nightseye gives half stam, and half spell dmg; Topaz gives Half spell dmg, half crit.; There should be a green gem that gives the stam/spell crit combo. (Jagged talasite does give this combo, but just for crit, not spell crit)

The combo of Topaz and Nightseye gives +6 stam, +10 dmg, +4 crit, which matches the rough formula above. Using a Star of Elune, paired with a topaz, or nightseye (depending on socket color you need) also meets the formula. But using the Ruby, only gets you +9 spell dmg, where the formula seems to call for +10.

This formula is totally contrived by me, but it seemed that Blizz introduced the gems to allow flexibility to each player to stack the gem that gave them the stats they need. By giving slightly better stats to one color of gem will just make the end game sets all look alike, which defeats the purpose or individuality.

Then again, there may be some reason that Blizz feels that sockets strength needs to lean towards certain colors for casters, and when you get down to it, +1 spell damage really isn't all that much. But for me, I'd rather have a Glowing Nightseye in a red socket than a Runed Living Ruby any day.

Comment by Tiran

The multi-colored gems are more helpful for meeting meta gem requirements anyways. I'd rather an orange and purple combo, like your stam/dmg/spell crit, which counts as two red, one yellow, and one blue, than a red and green combo giving the same stats, but only counting as one of each gem. The only reason I'd go for something like this is if I couldn't get the multi-colored gems, or if the extra +4 spell damage is going to make a huge difference, which it probably won't.

Comment by acura

Comment by zyxep

How to find your wanted socketable gems in the AH

All non BoP socketable gems are named in a particular two-part pattern:

<Stats> <Gem Name>

Where <Stats> represents a name that defines what stats the gem have and <Gem Name> represents the quality of the item. Rare quality gems gives more of each stat than uncommon quality gems. So for and example a Brilliant Dawnstone is a yellow gem that gives a high amount of intellect while a Brilliant Golden Draenite gives less intellect. To find the gem you want I suggest searching for the <Stats> part of the name - depending on what socket and stats you are looking for - and just use the quality selector on the AH UI to specify what amount of the desired stats you want (and how much gold you are willing to spend).

Below is an overview of the different gem names and stats parts you can find. I have only listed BoE gems that is uncommon or better.

Comment by JoeyAuchindoun

Now you can actually make the AH split the results easier, by color, then add the surname of what it is supposed to add to as stated in the post above.

Comment by Sgtown

Blizz rewards you slightly for using hybrid gems, it's that simple.

If you put a Nightseye in a red socket, you're crazy. How much do you *really* need that stam? I know I don't. I've never factored in the stam on my damage gear, and I'm at about 8k HP unbuffed, which is PLENTY for any raid encounter in the game.

However, I disagree that socket bonuses are ignorable. Socket bonuses these days are usually 5 damage or more. While there's no need to STACK stam, putting a 5 damage 6 stam gem in a blue socket instead of a 9 damage gem meants you get 10 damage 6 stam instead of just 9 damage. Sounds like the smart choice to me.

What I'd do is just pick the gem that gives you the best returns for a socket color, and put that in every socket of that color.

Just put those 3 gems in all your sockets, you'll get all the bonuses, but still have a lot of damage. In addition, you get some extra hit/crit/stam, which every caster needs SOME of. When you add socket bonuses to those gems (considering the alternative would be to stack damage and not get the bonus), you come out WAY ahead with this method.

Edit: The other bonus of this method is that since you'll usually have sockets of all 3 colors in your gear, this will satisfy most meta requirements without trying (unless it's a sucky one like more blue than red or something dumb).

Comment by Kathucka

This makes more sense when you realize that World of Warcraft doesn't ever display fractions, even though it does use them.

Most likely, Potent Noble Topaz adds 4.5 spell damage, but this gets rounded up to 5 for display. If this is true, putting on two of them will display at total of 9 more spell damage on your character sheet.

Comment by Motor

Comment by Cataclysmia

This. Except I don't think it is 4.5, it actually rounds up. So 12 stam = 9 spell damage = 8 crit, but when they half the spell damage, they round it up for you. Think of it as a bonus, not a detriment. Still, 9 spell damage is the highest dps caster gem.